The Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, Texas, is in a stage of rapid growth as hundreds of millions of dollars and years of work have been gone into developing the McNair Campus, located to the south of the Medical Center.
The new construction includes O’Quinn Medical Tower, which consolidates patient care at the McNair Campus, as well as a new eight-story garage completed in early 2023. The 858-space garage serves O’Quinn Medical Tower’s outpatient clinic, physicians, and staff.
To understand the hospital’s parking needs in the present and future, an extensive study was conducted to examine the overall need for parking on the constricted campus. The study recommended not only the size of the structure and number of spaces but also the specific design—which required the inclusion of numerous on-site obstacles—as well as parking-related technology.
[subhed] Design Integration
Shoehorned between two existing buildings, the new garage was required to accommodate an existing and active loading dock on the campus. Therefore, a majority of the footprint for the first two levels were constructed over the loading dock. A circular helix entrance/exit ramp guides patrons up to the parking deck, which begins at Level 3.
Further complicating the design of the garage is an existing transformer located on site. Because the owner did not want it relocated, an open-air notch was included in the garage’s structural design to accommodate the transformer.
Additionally, the garage was constructed next to an existing garage. The elevation of the two garages was carefully coordinated to provide easy integration for patrons between the two structures.
A parking count and guidance system installed in the new garage is compatible with similar systems integrated throughout the campus. License plate recognition for visitor use in the new garage facilitates seamless ingress and egress. Valet service is available for patients and their families as well as ample ADA parking.
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